Galen's Gemma

by Dale Mayer

  “Your sister bitches a lot.” He asked, “So how can you tell when it’s a little bit?”

  “That’s just who she is,” she said with a half laugh. “She bitches about everything. I think it’s part of her personality.”

  “It’s exhausting,” he said. “How do you do it?”

  She nodded. “I’m used to it. But I’m not sure that was the persona she played with Joe. He loved her to distraction and just wanted the china doll to be his.”

  “And she was happy to be a china doll for him?” Galen asked.

  “Absolutely. He bought her jewelry, nice clothes, and fancy stuff. He took her everywhere. She loved the life.”

  “Hmm. So then there’s no reason for her to want to lose that, is there?”

  “That’s the biggest reason why I don’t think she is really involved in this.” At that, Gemma closed her eyes again.

  “Unless she has a replacement in the wings?”

  “I haven’t heard of anybody.”

  “And yet my suggestion didn’t shock you?”

  She opened her eyes and stared at him. “I have no illusions about my sister,” she said, “but even the bitches of the world have family, and she’s part of mine.”

  “Good point,” he said. “And yet you don’t seem particularly close.”

  “I’d like to believe that underneath all the drama we are,” she said, “but I can’t be sure of it.” She sighed, closing her eyes yet again.

  “Any reason to suspect that Joe might have wanted a divorce?”

  At that, her eyes popped open, and she stared at him in surprise.

  He shrugged. “Just think about it. What if she would lose her marriage anyway? Do we know if there was any life insurance? A pension? She probably gets to keep the house, and she’s the victim here and gets all the attention.”

  “That would be very low,” she said. “Might be he had moved on, or wanted to, but I never saw or heard anything about that.”

  “But we don’t know yet, do we?”

  “Sounds to me,” she said, “like you need to do some investigation on that.”

  He barked with laughter at that. “And here I thought that’s what I was doing by talking to you.”

  “Let me know what you find when I wake up,” she said, then rolled over to go to sleep.

  “I’m not much help so far. What if I haven’t found anything by then?” he asked curiously.

  “Then you’re not the man I think you are,” she said and went silent.

  *

  Galen studied her in amazement. Not only had she immediately dropped off to sleep, but she was so very unlike what he was used to. No, that wasn’t quite true. He was used to this kind of temperament with the guys and gals he worked with but never with any women he met in the civilian world, for lack of a better term. Although he had worked with several who had similarities. Maybe that’s why she was something odd, yet not so odd. He was confused by how to even label her. But as she slept here, her breathing slow and steady, he realized what it must have cost her to do this right now with him. It meant she had to trust him.

  He got up slowly and walked to his laptop, grabbing it, meanwhile wondering if she was still just a little bit wary of him, yet extreme fatigue won out. She was seriously burned-out to drop off like that with him here. … As he sat back down, her eye movements had slipped into one more level of unconsciousness, and he realized that she was in a deep sleep now. He turned on his laptop to see just what was going on. Galen sent messages to Levi, asking him for further information. He wanted crime-scene photos to match up with what he had just been told to confirm Gemma’s recollection of it. He also wanted to know about life insurance and whether the couple had any recent marital problems.

  Levi messaged back right away. Isn’t that something you should ask the wife?

  Galen replied, I will when I have more intel. I wanted to hear what the general gossip has to say. Just in case their marital problems were not so secret.

  By the time Gemma woke up and slowly sat up, looking around in confusion, he had pretty well answered all the questions they had raised, confirming all that Gemma had said. The two society ladies Levi had spoken with confirmed that every marriage had problems and that Rebecca was a complainer anyway. Galen gently put down his laptop and quietly walked over, seeing a groggy and distant look in her gaze. He crouched in front of her. “Take it easy,” he said. “You just woke up from a really deep sleep.”

  She nodded slowly. “It took me a moment to figure out where I was,” she said, as she stifled a yawn. She looked around at the cabin. “I used to spend weeks of my summers here.”

  “And yet your sister didn’t seem to know too much about this place.”

  “She never came with me,” she said. “It was before our parents died, and it was my favorite place to come.”

  “Why is that?” he asked.

  She smiled, slowly opening her eyes. “Because it took me back to nature and let me forget about the various levels of humanity that I struggled with.”

  “You must have been very happy here,” he said.

  “I was,” she said, “but it also started changing around that time. I wasn’t even sure if I should come back this time.”

  “Did they have all the weapons back then?”

  She frowned and thought about it, then shook her head. “Not that I’m aware of, but that could be just because I was a teenager, and they didn’t think I needed to know about them.”

  “That’s possible too,” he said. “They are very well weaponized now.”

  “The world isn’t the same way it was ten years ago either,” she countered.

  “Do you have any reason to fear these people?”

  “No,” she said. “I’ve known Tim for a long time. But I don’t want to bring any danger to him and his family and his friends. They have this life of peace, living off the land as much as they can and living on the fringe of society. All by choice. They know what society is like. They had an ugly situation a few years back that shifted the way they lived, as they were forced to protect themselves from another group.”

  “Are they aware of your situation?”

  “Yes, and they opened the door to help me,” she said. “However, I promised not to put anybody here in unnecessary danger.”

  “Well, let’s hope you can honor that. As long as they understand it’s still possible that the scenario could get ugly, then they will stay alert. Over the next couple days we’ll see if anybody comes through Joe’s cabin, who goes to Joe’s house, and how much other information we can roust out. Maybe we can head back home after that.”

  She nodded slowly. “I know we can’t disappear forever. I just wanted to step out of the world a little bit and cause everybody who was after my family to stop and rethink.”

  “Do you have any idea why they might want to take out Rebecca? Aside from the fact that she might have spoken to Joe of course.”

  “No,” she said softly. “I’ve been racking my brain trying to think, but I’m not coming up with any answers that make sense.”

  “Maybe it’s time to sit down and have a talk with Rebecca.”

  Chapter 7

  Gemma looked at Galen, gave him a sideways smile, and said, “Good luck with that.”

  “Will she even tell me?”

  “I don’t know if she will,” she said. “It’s not that she won’t tell you. It’s just that the answer isn’t always clear.”

  “Yes or no isn’t clear?”

  “She ends up throwing a fit before you ever get the information you want from her.”

  “Well, that’s usually a diversionary tactic.”

  “I know,” she said softly, thinking about all the times her sister had gotten away from punishment and not having to fess up because of her tactics. “It doesn’t mean that she’s involved though. I often think it’s just a game to her.”

  “It’s hardly a game at this point though,” he said quietly.

  Just then a knock
came on their cabin door.

  “Who is it?” she asked, reaching up and yawning.

  “Zack.” He opened the door and stepped inside; Rebecca and Becky were right there beside him.

  Becky raced over and launched herself into Gemma’s arms. Gemma gave her a tight hug back. “I just woke up,” Becky said.

  “So did I,” Gemma added.

  And with that, Becky crawled up on the bed, pulling Gemma’s blanket over her.

  Gemma reached down and kissed the little girl on the cheek. “And here I thought you wanted to visit the rabbits.”

  Immediately Becky bolted from the bed. “Real rabbits? With long ears and fluffy tails?”

  “Exactly,” Gemma said with laughter. “Let me get my shoes on, and I’ll take you over.”

  “How come you know about the rabbits?” Becky asked.

  “Because I used to come here when I was growing up,” she said. “We always had rabbits here.”

  “That must have been nice,” Becky said and immediately turned to her mom. “How come I can’t come here during my summers?”

  “Why would you want to?” her mom asked, staring at her in distaste. “I mean, these animals poop everywhere.”

  Gemma stared at her in shock. “Is that the best you can come up with?”

  “Whatever,” she said. “I’m not looking at the rabbits.”

  “That’s fine.” Gemma walked over to the big pitcher of water on the counter and poured herself a glass. “We’re expected at dinner in the long house tonight, by the way. I hope none of you have a problem with that.”

  “I have a headache,” Rebecca said. “We still have plenty of food to make a sandwich. I’ll just have that.”

  Gemma hesitated as she looked at her sister, realizing that the set look on her face was the same no matter what, and she nodded. “That would be fine.” In fact, it would be preferable. Gemma didn’t want to insult her host by having her sister be a petulant child at the dinner table. It would not be in anybody’s best interest. She looked at the two men. “What about you two?”

  They nodded and said they would be happy to join them at the long house.

  She gave them both a quiet smile. “Good,” she said. “I’ll make that arrangement while I’m out with Becky. I’ll find out what time we’re expected for dinner too.” She held out her hand to Becky. “Come on. Let’s go see the rabbits.”

  Immediately the little girl raced over and chattered about what colors and how many there were.

  Gemma turned, looked at the men, nodded toward her sister, and said, “This might be a good time.” She walked out, heading across to the rabbit hutches, leaving the cabin behind.

  Becky asked Gemma, “A good time for what?”

  “To ask your mom some questions.”

  “She doesn’t like questions,” Becky said. “They make her feel terrible.”

  “I don’t know if it’s the questions that make her feel terrible,” Gemma said, “but I imagine trying to find the answers might.”

  “Yes,” she said, “I hate having questions when I don’t know the answers.”

  “Especially in school,” Gemma said, laughing.

  At that, her niece wrinkled up her face. “I can get most of those questions,” she said. “It’s all those other questions,” she said, with a big eye roll as she danced at her aunt’s side.

  “And who are asking those other questions?” she asked.

  “Daddy’s friends.”

  Her niece answered so innocently, and yet Gemma was shocked by the answer. “When did you talk to Daddy’s friends?”

  “Since Daddy died.” She stopped for a moment and asked, “Is Daddy in heaven?”

  “Absolutely he is,” Gemma said instantly. “You know he wouldn’t have left you for anything, right?”

  “I know,” Becky said sadly. “He loved me.”

  “And he wanted to be here for you,” Gemma added, “but sometimes we don’t get what we want.” Gemma remembered hearing Joe say that many a time. “And your daddy would have told you that over and over again, wouldn’t he? But he also always would have told you that we still have to keep trying to do what’s right.”

  “I’ll be a doctor,” Becky said. “Then I can save people like my daddy.”

  “And that would be lovely, if that’s what you end up doing,” she said, smiling down at her niece. “We need more doctors.”

  She nodded, and the two of them headed across the field. Gemma was trying to figure out what questions had been asked of her niece and who had asked her. But it was a matter of making the questions about that appear subtle and innocent.

  “What kind of questions couldn’t you answer when they asked you? When I was in class,” she said, “they used to ask me questions about history, and I never could answer those.”

  “I don’t know much history,” she said. “They asked me about Mommy.”

  “Oh, interesting. But then your mother is very beautiful, so, of course, they asked questions about her.”

  “And about Daddy.”

  “Like what?” she asked as she led Becky over to the hutch.

  “They asked if Mommy and Daddy were really close and if they talked. And if Daddy might have shown her something.”

  “Something like what?”

  The little girl shrugged. “They talked about some ladder or something.” She frowned. “I don’t know. That isn’t quite the right word.”

  “Ledger?”

  Immediately Becky nodded. “That’s it. What is that?”

  “It’s a book where people record stuff.”

  “Yeah, they asked if there was a book.”

  “That your Daddy might have had?”

  She nodded.

  “What did you tell him?”

  “Well, Daddy had a book,” she said, “but I don’t know where it is now.”

  “When did you last see it?”

  “Mommy had it,” she said, delivering a bombshell that Gemma hadn’t even considered.

  *

  “What was that last line of Gemma’s? About ‘this might be a good time?’ What the hell does that mean?” Rebecca asked, as she walked over to a small table. “I prefer my cabin. It’s nicer.”

  “That’s because it’s bigger, has a bedroom, and more furniture,” Zack said patiently.

  “But then there’s more of us over there, so that makes sense to be there,” Rebecca said. She looked at the two men. “Why are you catering to Gemma? You know we don’t have to be here.”

  “Don’t we?” Galen asked. “I have a bunch of questions to ask you.”

  “I hate questions,” she said. “The police interviewed me for hours. It was terrible.”

  “But they were only doing what they needed to do,” Galen said. “Finding out what happened to your husband. They have procedures to follow.”

  “Sure,” she said, bored. “Ask away then.”

  “What was your relationship like with Joe?”

  She stopped, looked up at him, and frowned. “We were happy. Why? Has somebody said anything?”

  “No,” he said, “we just need to know.”

  “No,” she snapped, glaring at him. “You don’t need to know.”

  Zack sighed and looked out the window.

  Galen hid a smile. “Are you always this difficult?” She turned on him, and he could see her fury building. “I won’t be sidetracked, you know?” he said mildly. “We have other questions. Were you two talking about divorce at all?”

  “No,” she snapped. “We were happy.”

  “Was there life insurance on Joe?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have you received a payout?”

  “Not yet.”

  “How much?”

  “Half a million,” she replied.

  At that, Zack whistled. “That should set you up nicely.”

  “I hope so,” she said, with a shrug of her shoulders, “but it won’t be quite enough, and you know it.”

  “Quite enough for what?�
�� Galen asked.

  “To rebuild my life,” she said. “Joe was everything to me.”

  “And yet you never talk about missing him. Even the money isn’t enough to rebuild your life, but you don’t talk about rebuilding that empty piece of your heart.”

  “I loved him as much as I’ve loved anyone,” she said, boldly staring at him. “I know most people don’t think I have feelings. I’m not superficial as much as I just don’t know what deep feelings are. Maybe something is wrong with me, but I don’t care. It’s who I am, and people just need to accept it.”

  “Did you have anything to do with Joe’s death?”

  “Of course not,” she said. “That’s insulting.”

  “That’s a lot of insurance money too,” he said mildly.

  She just glared at him.

  “Do you have any idea why Joe was killed?” he continued.

  “Gemma thinks it has to do with his work.”

  “I’m not asking what Gemma thinks,” he said, again seeing her tactics to evade the questions.

  She glared at him. “No, I don’t know. It was a robbery gone wrong. To think it was anything else is just trying to stir up trouble.”

  “Did you ever see Joe hide any material? Did you ever see any work he brought home? Or did he have any suspicious information on somebody? Any reason he would get blackmailed?”

  “No, I don’t think so,” she said. “I have no idea though.”

  “What do you mean, you have no idea?” He studied her like the odd specimen she was. Was the sister lying? He voted for the sister lying. She hadn’t spoken much about her husband, and the words that had come out of her mouth weren’t anything he could believe.

  “I have no idea,” she said, raising her hands in frustration. “He probably just got hold of some information and was killed for it. At least that’s a possibility. He said he’d found something at work but didn’t say what it was.” She looked like she was considering the idea, then shrugged as if she didn’t care. “I didn’t have anything to do with his work. I didn’t care to know anything. So don’t ask me any more questions as I don’t have any answers.”

  “Maybe you do, and maybe you don’t,” he said.

  “Well, that’s for somebody else to figure out,” she said. “I don’t know.”